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You Know the Importance of Awakening--Now Learn HOW to Awaken 3/30/2008 8:11:49 AM
There's great news! The subject of Awakening and Enlightenment has come to the forefront of humanity! Eckhart Tolle's collaboration with Oprah is a perfect example of how hungry hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of people are for the news that there is a way out of our ego's incessant activity, our suffering, and as Tolle says, out of our 'pain body.'
As we become aware that there is much more to living than our customary, conditioned responses (or reactions) to life, the next question is, "HOW do I take the next step?" "HOW do I even know where to start?" This is precisely where the Enneagram offers enormous value to each of us. You see, we don't all process our internal experience the same way; and we won't all let go of our the ego's conditioned patterns (thus, our suffering) in the same way. Nor will we all have the same specific experience once as we awaken.
The Enneagram shows us that there are nine different primary egoic structures, or types. Each egoic structure has a particular journey or path of healing and awakening. In fact, the processes that will help awaken a person with a specific ego structure will only reinforce the ego structure of another type. So, your path to awakening may look very different than the path of your significant other or best friend.
Have you ever read a self-help book that gave fairly specific guidance on the one way to overcome certain difficulties and experience more satisfaction? Did it work for you? If so, it's quite possible that your egoic structure was similar to that of the book's author. That is, most authors give self-help guidance from the perspective of what they personally have found to work for them (and their own personality). If a particular book did not work, it probably is because it wasn't right for healing and awakening from your particular ego structure. When a book or workshop doesn't help, many people take that to reinforce the idea that there is something inherently wrong with them. This is not so at all--it is just another way for the ego to buff itself up.
What is much more helpful is to recognize the specific patterns of your ego's structure (which, by the way, is NOT your TRUE Nature). Since these patterns are generally hidden from awareness, we need a way to recognize what they are. Through working with the Enneagram, we are given the information that shines the light onto the patterns of our type. This process is called self-typing. This is the very important first step.
To truly be on the journey of enlightenment, we must become intentional and commited to the process of 'seeing our ego in the act of doing itself ' and then, compassionately, relaxing the ego's automatic patterns. Here, too, the tools and understandings associated with the Enneagram offer enormous benefits on this path.
It is hard for any of us to see our ego in action by ourselves. Gaining information through reading is a great first step. Being in a workshop, class or retreat which offers a grounded and compassionate learning experience helps us to see ourselves and others in a new light. And working with a coach trained in the Enneagram provides specific one-on-one support in moving toward the liberating experience of our True Nature.
For more information on my book, Deep Coaching: Using the Enneagram as a Catalyst for Profound Change, on upcoming workshops and retreats, and on coaching with one of my associates, go to www.lifewisecoaching.com.
